Procter & Gamble will continue to sell off marginal brands and might consider more joint ventures, similar to its deal last week with Coca-Cola Co., to free resources to focus on its biggest brands.

        Clayton C. Daley, P&G's chief financial officer, delivered that message Tuesday during a Merrill Lynch-sponsored consumer-products conference in New York.

        Referring to the deal with Coca-Cola to form a new, independent snack-food company that would sell P&G brands including Pringles and Sunny Delight, Mr. Daley said: “We may at some point look at those models on other businesses as well.”

        Mr. Daley said chief executive A.G. Lafley is “taking a very broad view” of P&G's 300-brand portfolio to determine which products will be “part of the portfolio long term.”

        Industry watchers have speculated that P&G will continue to pare its struggling food and beverage business to relieve some of the drag on earnings.

        In an interview last week with the Enquirer, P&G's president of global food and beverage, Jorge Montoya, acknowledged that the divestiture of some smaller food and beverage brands is an option P&G is considering.

        P&G already has sold off a handful of marginal brands, such as Clearasil and Spic and Span.

        But food and beverage brands such as Folgers — one of P&G's 10 billion-dollar- plus brands — and Crisco, generate big profits for the company and would probably not be sold, Mr. Montoya said.

        Mr. Daley indicated that a more likely candidate for the auction block might be one of P&G's newest brands, Dryel.

        The home dry-cleaning kit “has not met our initial expectations,” Mr. Daley said, adding that P&G will base future investment in new brands on “initial consumer response,” not long-term potential.

        Mr. Daley's comments came a day after P&G warned that earnings for the second half of fiscal 2001 would fall short of expectations because of a financial crisis in Turkey, its 12th-largest market.

        P&G shares fell 6 percent Monday to close at $71.11, down $3.92

        The company's shares closed Tuesday at $70.70, down 41 cents.

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